Saturday, December 04, 2004

A Rare Virtue for Advent

Of all the virtues to contemplate, I feel that I have been called to humility this Advent, both personally and as a topic for my blog. It's a slippery one, too, and so dreadfully out of fashion in our culture. Short of an accidental play of that bad '70s tune, "Lord, it's hard to be humble, when you're perfect in every way," on a rare oldies or country station, the virtue of humility gets "virtually" no billing whatsoever today in our pop culture.

People still like to talk about random acts of kindness, the value of charity, the power of philanthropy, and even the potential for holiness. But what about humility?

Even as I try to write about humility, something in me wants to rant about its antithesis, pride. Pride is far more glamorous. I can think of many more examples. As they say, "Don't get me started." But humility, well, that's harder. Harder to find and harder to live.

The Rule of Benedict has extensive direction about humility, so I began there. But other saints have much to say about it, too. Of course, my heart is drawn to Our Lady, the humble receiver of the Word, as a model for my faith in this Advent journey to the stable, the most humble of birthing beds.

Of all the virtues, humility is my vocation this season. If it is yours, you are welcome to walk with me. I warn you, it's a lonely, lowly walk, and not well-lit. There are many distractions. We'll be tempted to judge and preen and gossip and shop for bargains and brag and rant about all manner of societal ills, I'll wager, because the Evil One won't like us thinking small and lowly thoughts about ourselves. But we'll pray to the little Child Jesus in the manger, and ask our Blessed Mother to pray for us, too.

"Then I saw myself ... together with the Mother of God....She was so peaceful and so united to the will of God...When I was left alone with the Blessed Virgin, She instructed me concerning the interior life. The soul's true greatness is in loving God and in humbling oneself in His presence, completely forgetting oneself and believing oneself to be nothing; because the Lord is great, but He is well-pleased only with the humble; He always opposes the proud." (1710-11) Divine Mercy Diary, Sister Faustina

16 Comments:

At December 4, 2004 at 4:15 PM, Blogger Julie D. said...

I believe we'll be walking this together. Of all the prayers I pray, when I pray for humility it is always the most quickly answered (as Mother Teresa said, humility is the root of humiliation). But it is so necessary and rewarding in it's own way when I manage to achieve it.

I love the Sr. Faustina quotes also. The Divine Mercy Chaplet is one of my favorites but I've never read much about or by her.

 
At December 8, 2004 at 8:32 PM, Blogger Unknown said...

I'm here too. thank you, i really needed this reminder.

 
At September 16, 2006 at 1:50 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Thank you!
[url=http://nyxsyrei.com/uhic/kfkr.html]My homepage[/url] | [url=http://rlofminc.com/echj/sbyr.html]Cool site[/url]

 
At September 16, 2006 at 1:51 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Nice site!
My homepage | Please visit

 
At September 16, 2006 at 1:51 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

 
At February 28, 2010 at 4:56 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

 
At April 1, 2010 at 9:35 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

 
At April 24, 2010 at 12:28 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

 
At April 29, 2010 at 12:17 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

 
At May 2, 2010 at 8:54 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

 
At May 27, 2010 at 2:43 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

 
At May 27, 2010 at 10:14 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

 
At June 22, 2010 at 1:31 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

 
At July 7, 2010 at 5:52 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

 
At April 7, 2013 at 1:37 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

 
At April 7, 2013 at 7:45 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

 

Post a Comment

<< Home

Post for a New Day